It's Very You
by heatherkw
Summary: Cameron teaches Kirsten how to build a sandcastle. Prompt: Camsten & sandcastles


A/N: For camerongooodkin on tumblr, for Stitchers Fan Appreciation Day

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"Why are we doing this again?" Kirsten asked, raising an eyebrow.

Cameron was getting supplies from the trunk of his car. "I still can't believe that you've never done this. I mean, you've lived in L.A. your whole life."

Kirsten sighed. She didn't understand what the big deal was. She had never gone skydiving, and she knew that wasn't something she wanted to try. Yet here they were, at the beach on one of their few days off.

"You've really never made sandcastles before? That's something that everyone does," he exclaimed. He spent many weekends at the beach when he was a kid. Since he wasn't allowed to swim after his surgery, he needed to find something else to occupy his time.

He finally gathered all the supplies that have rolled out of his beach bag on the drive over.

"Come on," he said. She rolled her eyes as he placed his hand on the small of her back and led her away from the car.

He surveyed the beach, searching for a relatively secluded spot, so others wouldn't traipse all over their area.

After a few paces on the sand, she abandoned her flip flops and carried them instead.

Cameron spent about ten minutes to lead them away from the crowds. He found the perfect spot, and the tide was receding for optimal consistency of the sand."Here,'' he said proudly.

She looked around, only seeing sand. "And what are we supposed to do?"

He smirked as he pulled out the supplies, the very large pile of supplies.

She watched him in curious silence. He had brought several buckets of varying sizes, shovels, trowels, and what could only be described as a large spatula. "So the trick is to start by packing down the sand for the foundation, and make the general structure. Then start at the top and work down to make any designs."

She continued to stare at him, still not convinced that this would be a fun afternoon, as he promised earlier that day.

"Here, let me show you." He systematically packed the sand for the foundation, occasionally going to get more water. She watched him intently as he started, helping once she was sure she had sufficient knowledge on the basics of foundation building. He smiled at her. "Good... you'll be a pro in no time."

She smiled back. She was actually starting to enjoy herself. If not only for the fact that beating up sand in their quiet corner of the beach was quite relaxing, but also because he seemed so animated about teaching her.

Next he started with the largest square bucket to build the base of the castle. It took him a few more trips to the water to get the nearby sand to a better, workable consistency.

He was surprised that he built the base of the castle relatively quickly, considering he hadn't built a sandcastle in many years.

He handed her a medium sized bucket. "Here, add sand to the ends to add towers." His hand grazed hers, lingering for a moment longer than he probably should have.

She accepted the bucket and mimicked his methods, packing the sand in the bucket and transferring it to his foundation. She matched the height of his tower, unsure of what to do next.

Cameron quickly sculpted the edges of the castle from years of practice. "Now comes the fun part, making designs." He pulled out some of the smaller tools for fine manipulation of the sand, handing a few to Kirsten. "Do you want the towers, or the entrance of the castle?"

"I guess the towers," she answered. They couldn't be too difficult, right?

She smoothed the edges of the towers, creating perfect cones. She used a small spade and started gently removing layers of sand to add the appearance of windows.

He finished up his spiral staircase leading down from her first tower, before starting on the rock designs near the main door to their castle. "You know, this was one of the few activities my parents would let me do after my surgery. They wouldn't let me run around to get more water, or sometimes even pack the sand. But I would spend hours creating these very intricate designs on them." He even competed a few times, but wasn't sure if that would cross too far into 'nerd' territory.

She had just started on the second tower, while Cameron waited patiently. He didn't want to rush her.

"This is actually kind of fun. Although I'm really just holding you up," she glanced at him over her shoulder. She had taken notice that he was waiting on her.

He shrugged. "I've had years to practice."

She finished her windows, stepping aside so Cameron could create his staircase for that tower. She went back to the first tower to add more details.

Cameron finished up what he wanted to do. He created spiral staircases for each tower, etched a large door with surrounding bricks, and smoothed out the bottom of the castle.

Kirsten methodically added shingle designs to the roof of her towers. Something about the designs and being away from everyone was rather calming. She even found small seashells and adorned the wall of the walkway between the two towers with them.

Finally satisfied with her decorating the sandcastle, she turned around in search of Cameron. He was crouched down working on something else. "What are you- really?," she asked as she saw the second 'sandcastle' he made.

"I didn't want to interrupt, so I decided to make this." He pointed to his very anatomically correct brain sculpture.

She laughed. And not just a little bit. She laughed hard, clutching her sides. Only Cameron would make a brain sculpture while waiting for her to finish.

"What?," he inquired after she finally stopped laughing.

"It's just very... very you." She gave him a soft smile.

The crease on his forehead lessened, seeing that she was genuine. "Thanks, I think," he said cautiously.

"So, what now?"

He packed up everything into his bag. "Well now we're done. Just one final touch." He wrote 'Kirsten + Cameron' in the sand next to their castle and took a picture with his phone. He changed the setting in his phone to take a selfie, and pulled her in close. "Alright. Three, two, one," and he snapped the picture. "Now we're done."

"Well almost." She quickly mirrored his actions, writing his name next to the brain and took a picture of him, his mouth gaping in shock, with his brain sandcastle in the background. He hadn't even processed what she had done until after she took the picture.

"Oh come on, that's not fair," he complained. Camille had already made fun of him for wanting to take all four of them to the beach. He might never live it down if she saw his brain sandcastle.

She sprinted ahead of him towards his car. "If you're nice and buy me dinner, I won't show it to Camille," she shouted behind her.

He was jogging after her, still a few paces behind. "I'll buy you dinner _and_ dessert if you promise not to show her."

She slowed down to a brisk walk and turned to face him. "Deal," she nodded. "Now where do I want to go for dinner?"

...

He dropped her off after their evening out. She chose a Thai place for dinner, followed by a local ice cream shop near her house for dessert.

He walked her to her door, as usual.

"I had fun today," she admitted.

"Yeah, me too. So would you want to go again sometime?," he asked. He was hopeful that she had enough of a good time to go with him again. Or really any excuse to spend time with her.

"Yeah. Like I said, it was fun. But I get to pick the activity next time," she reasoned.

He thought about it for a second. "Seems fair to me," he agreed.

"So was it worth it?" She nudged his shoulder gently with her own.

He hadn't realized their close proximity until he looked up at her question. He backed up a bit and looked into her eyes. He paused, unsure as to what she meant. Spending the day with her? Teaching her how to build a sandcastle? Or really anything involving spending time with her? The answer would be yes to all of those questions.

"The deal. Dinner and dessert for not mentioning your sculpture to Camille," she elaborated.

He laughed nervously. "Yeah princess. It was worth it."


End file.
